Dispenser container



May 1, 1962 R. 0. REEDER 3,032,235

DISPENSER CONTAINER Filed Feb. 24. 1958 E 45 I I /7 4 Fig. 4

42 INVENTOR RICHARD D. FEEDER 3,032,235 DISPENSER ONTATNER Richard D. Reeder, Alliance, Ohio, assignor to The Alliance Manufacturing Company, Division of Consolidated Electronics Industries Corporation, a corporation of Delaware Filed Feb. 24, 1958, Ser. No. 716,978 3 Claims. (Cl. 221--167) The invention relates in general to dispensers for dispensing small objects and in a particular embodiment of the invention the dispenser has been shown as dispensing hexagonal fiat surfaced nuts.

The use of dispensers for small objects such as washers, nuts, discs, and the like has been known for some time, and vibrating bins or containers to cause movement of the objects to a selected exit have been known. In general, such prior art dispensers have been large compared to the size of the object being dispensed. They have also been subject to many defects of operation wherein positive and continuous operation is not assured.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a dispenser to dispense small objects continuously and with a minimum of trouble.

Another object of the invention is to provide a dispenser for small objects which dispenser is small compared to the prior art dispensers for dispensing similarly sized objects.

Another object of the invention is to provide a positive acting dispenser which is trouble free in operation and which dispenser may be easily refilled with objects.

Another object of the invention is to provide a dispenser container with a revolvable stirrer which stirs the objects to make sure that they will pass to an exit.

Another object of the invention is to provide a dispenser container with a revolvable stirrer having a resilient leg which will deflect upon extraordinary forces imparted thereto.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a dispenser container which has a wedge or other obstruction over which the objects pass as moved by a stirrer with this obstruction changing the attitude of the objects to aid in establishing proper attitude or positioning of the objects for their exit from the container.

Other objects and a fuller understanding of this invention may be had by referring to the following description and claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view partially in section of a dispenser container embodying the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a top view on the lines 22 of FIG- URE l; I, 7

FIGURE 3 is a sectionalview on the line 3-3 of FIGURE 2; 7

FIGURE 4 is a sectional view on the line 4-4 of FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 5 is a side view of the stirrer taken on line 55 of FIGURE 1.

The figures of the drawing show a dispenser container 11 embodying the invention and in this case it is shown as a dispenser particularly adapted to dispense small flat opposing surface objects. Such objects might be discs or other solid objects of polygonal shape or may be apertured objects such as washers or nuts. The FIGURE 2 shows a few of the objects, in this case illustrated as nuts 12, which are being dispensed. The dispenser 11 includes generally a base 13, a mount 14, a container 15, a stirrer 16, and a chute 17. The dispenser may also include a pick-up stand 18, a transformer 19, and a gate 20 on the chute; and these latter elements are more particularly referred to in the co-pending application Serial No. 717,043, filed February 24, 1958, now Patent No.

3,032,235 Patented May 1, 1962 2,979,229 issued April 11, Dispenser.

The mount 14 includes a pedestal 24 and a bracket 25 adjustably carried thereon for different elevational and angular positions of the container 15. The bracket 25 has an inverted U shape and on the base of this U carries the floor 26 of the container 15. A motor 27 and gear reduction unit 28 are carried on the bracket 25, and the slow speed output of the gear reduction unit 28 drives the stirrer 16.

The stirrer 16 has a generally inverted U shape with first and second legs 31 and 32. The second leg 32 is connected by a coupling 33 to the output shaft 34 of the gear reduction unit 28. The first leg 31 has first and second parts 35 and 36. Each of these parts is rigid and they are interconnected for resiliency by a cylindrical spring 37. The spring 37 holds the parts 35 and 36 in substantial coaxial alignment and is of sufficient stiffness to maintain the two parts relatively coaxially except when the second or lower part 36 strikes some relatively unyielding object.

The second leg 32 is positioned off the axis 38 of the container 15 and is positioned on a line between this axis and the lowermost side portion 39 of the wall of the container 15.

The container floor 26 is generally perpendicular to the axis 38 and the chute 17 has a lower chute surface 42 generally coplanar with the floor 26. The chute has first and second ends 43 and 44, respectively, with the first end 43 opening into the container 15 to provide an exit for the objects therein. The chute 17 has side surfaces 45 defining a width sufficient to take the overall dimension of the objects. In this case the chute is wide enough to accommodate the maximum dimension across the points of hexagonal nuts shown being dispensed. A groove 46 is preferably provided in the bottom of the chute 17 to act as a dirt receiving groove as well as to lessen the sliding friction of the objects in the chute.

The container floor 26 includes a Wedge or obstruction 48. This wedge is in the lower portion of the floor 26 and extends from the side wall generally toward the second leg 32. The wedge 48 is preferably not on a radius of either the container 15 or the stirrer 16, rather it extends toward a point down hill relative to the second leg 32. The stirrer 16 rotates clockwise as viewed in FIG- URE 2, and the lower end 49 of the second part 36 just clears the top of this wedge 48 during rotation. Also during rotation of the stirrer 16 which causes the second part 36 to revolve around the second leg 32, this second part 36 comes closely adjacent and generally parallel to the lowermost side portion 39 of the wall of the container 15.

As seen in FIGURE 5, the lower portion of the second part 36 has a portion cut away to form a lifting toe 50. This lifting toe 50 has a partially upwardly directed surface to tend to move the objects upwardly.

1961, entitled Object Operation and for ascertaining that there are objects such as nuts still within the container 15. The fact that the motor and gear reduction unit 27, 28 is on the bottom of the container 15 aids in refilling and observing the supply of nuts. In practice usually about a one inch deep supply of nuts is provided in the container 15. It may be used with No. 6-32 nuts which are approximately one-fourth of an inch across the flats and approximately nine-thirtyseconds of an inch across the points. This is a very small object to manipulate by hand; hence, this entire dispenser 11 is very useful.

The stirrer need not rotate rapidly, in fact, a slow rotation such as from six to sixty r.p.-m. has been found quite suitable. This stirs the nuts or objects to make certain that a continuous supply is fed to the exit 43. In normal operation the spring 37 has sufficient stiffness that the two parts 35 and 36 remain coaxial, yet this spring provides resiliency in the first leg 31 in case some extraordinary resistance is met. In case of such jamming or the like, the spring 37 yields to permit the leg 31 to pass over the obstruction and, when the leg straightens out to its normal coaxial alignment, this gives a sudden snapping or whipping action to clear the jamming. This contributes to the success of the dispenser 11.

As the first leg 31 revolves, the lower end 49 just clears the wedge 48. The nuts therefore, as they are being circulated around by the stirrer 16, are caused to ride up and over this wedge 48. This disturbs them and changes their attitude to make certain that one of the two opposing flat and parallel surfaces on the nuts is resting on the floor 26. In such position the shape of the exit 43 is such as to receive these objects. The Wedge particularly has been found to prevent nuts from piling up so as to not enter this exit 43, and also in the case of a nut which happens to be riding along on one of its flat side surfaces forming the hexagon, the movement up and over the wedge 48 causes it to tip or flip so that it lies fiat on the floor 26.

The fact that the wedge 48 does not extend directly toward the second leg 32, but instead is aimed at a lower point, causes the nuts to be pushed up and over the wedge with a kind of slicing or twisting action. Also, the lifting toe 50 has been found useful especially in cooperation with the wedge 48 to help give a lifting action to the nuts as they pass up over this wedge 48. In FIG- URE 2 only a few of the nuts 12 have been shown and these in the chute 17 to illustrate that the nuts will be continuously fed into the upper part of the chute 17 until they reach the gate 20. Nuts have not been shown in the container 15 in interests of clarity;

The entire dispenser 11 thus provides a continuous supply of nuts down the chute 17 to the gate 20 whence they may be dispensed one at a time into the pick-up stand 18. The entire dispenser 11 is quite small and compact compared to previous devices available to dispense objects of comparable size.

Although this invention has been described in its preferred form with a certain degree of particularity, it is understood that the present disclosure of the preferred form has been made only by way of example and that numerous changes in the details of construction and the combination and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.

What is claimed is:

1. A dispenser for dispensing objects comprising, a container having a floor and a Wall and adapted to contain a large plurality of said objects, means mounting said container with the floor inclined at an angle to the horizontal, a lowermost side portion on said container wall, a revolvable stirrer in said container, a leg on said stirrer, means establishing resiliency in said leg, means to revolve said leg in a path to cause it to come into close proximity to said lowermost side portion, an obstruction on the floor of said container near said lowermost side portion, and an exit opening in said lowermost side por- 4 tion positioned further along said path than said obstruction and fixed relative to said obstruction to receive one of said objects, whereby as said leg revolves said objects pass over said obstruction and are changed in attitude to aid in establishing one of said objects in proper attitude to pass into said exit.

2. A dispenser for dispensing objects having flat opposing surfaces comprising, a cylindrical container to contain a large plurality of objects, means mounting said container with the axis at a slight angle to the vertical, :1 lowermost side portion. on said container, a U-shaped stirrer with first and second legs, power means to slowly rotate said second leg to cause said first leg to revolve therearound and come into close proximity generally parallel to said lowermost side portion, a lifting toe on said first leg, means establishing resiliency in said first leg, a floor on said container substantially perpendicular to said axis, a deflector wedge on the floor of said container extending inwardly at an acute angle from the side wall of said container, the thin edge of said wedge facing said stirrer as said stirrer revolves to cause said objects to be driven up said wedge and changed in attitude to aid in establishing that one of said fiat surfaces of said objects may come to rest on said floor, and an exit opening in said lowermost side portion having a fixed posterior position relative to said wedge.

3. A dispenser for dispensing objects having flat sur faces comprising, a container having an axis and adapted to contain a large plurality of objects, means mounting said container with the axis at a slight angle to the vertical, a lowermost generally cylindrical side portion on said container, a rotatable U-shaped stirrer in said container, a leg on said stirrer, first and second rigid parts on said leg, a spring surrounding said first and second parts in substantially coaxial alignment to interconnect same and to permit said second part to fiexorelative to said first part, power means to revolve said leg to cause said sec- 0nd part to come into close proximity generally parallel to said lowermost side portion, a floor on said container substantially perpendicular to said axis, an obstruction on the floor of said container extending inwardly at an acute angle from the side wall of said container near said lowermost side portion, an exit opening in said lowermost side portion having a fixed position relative to said ohstruction and posterior to said obstruction relative to movement of said stirrer, whereby as said stirrer revolves said objects pass over said obstruction and are changed in attitude to aid in establishing that one of said fiat surfaces of said objects may come to rest on said floor near said-exit opening in said lowermost side portion.

UNITED STATES PATENTS References Cited in the file of this patent 181,540 Sawyer Aug. 29, 1876 1,179,916 Havener Apr. 18, 1916 1,409,201 Rumney Mar. 14, 1922 1,785,862 Flowers Dec. 23, 1930 2,435,039 Harper Jan. 27, 1948 2,621,824 Gookin Dec. 16, 1952 2,853,176 Kay et al. Sept. 23, 1958 2,872,019 Owen Feb. 3, 1959 

